Auditing Standards, Increased Accounting Disclosure Essays

Auditing Standards, Increased Accounting Disclosure Essays Auditing Standards, Increased Accounting Disclosure Essay Auditing Standards, Increased Accounting Disclosure Essay Auditing Standards, Increased Accounting Disclosure, and Information Asymmetry: Evidence from an Emerging Market A Proposal December 2003 Auditing Standards, Increased Accounting Disclosure and Information Asymmetry : Evidence from an Emerging Market The interest in accounting disclosure and audit quality by academics, practitioners, and regulators heightened following the various financial reporting scandals, and subsequent legislative and professional response to these scandals (e. G. , ASS Corporate Governance Guide 2003; Serbians-Solely Act 2002). An important question hat has been on the minds of many is whether the implementation of stricter auditing standards such as those mandated by the U. S. Serbians-Solely Act would improve the information environment of firms whose shares are publicly traded. In this paper, I investigate the link between information asymmetry, measured by bid- ask spread, and increased accounting disclosures following the adoption of new auditing standards in China?an environment in which disclosure hitherto was relatively low. Level (1988) asserts that accounting regulation should reduce and Overreached (2000) argue that increased accounting disclosures should reduce information asymmetry not only between firms and stockholders but also among investors. 2 Currently, most empirical results on the economic link between increased disclosure and information asymmetry are based on samples of U. S. Firms. However, these firms have a rich information environment, making it difficult to observe economic conse quences of increased disclosures (Callahan et al. 1997, Healy and Pale 2001; Core 2001; Else and Overreached 2000). An emerging market environment, which is characterized by higher level of ex ante information asymmetry, may provide a potentially more powerful setting for detecting the effects f increased disclosure on market liquidity (Overreached 2001). Unlike developed capital markets, accounting disclosures in Chinese capital markets have been characterized as low in quantity and quality (Ixia et al. 2004; Abdul-Chalk et al. 1999; Lie and Ghana 1996). Over the period 1996 to 1997, accounting regulators and professionals in China implemented a series of auditing standards, modeled after the International Auditing Standards. The new auditing standards address a wide range of issues, such as audits of financial statements, audit evidence, audit reports, fraud and errors, internal controls, and audit risk. All domestic auditors are required to comply with the new standards in the conduct of financial statement audits. In addition, the Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission (CARS) and the Chinese Institute of Certified Public Accountants (CPA) are required to impose costly penalties on auditors who fail to comply with the new auditing standards (Defend et al. 2000). For example, the Quantifying scandal in 1996 resulted in the suspension of the CPA firm from practice for six months. Further, the Chinese High Court issued Document No. 56 in 1996 emphasizing auditors legal liabilities at the national level (Gull et al. 003). The intent of the changes in auditing standardization, government enforcement, and litigation environment is to make auditors more independent than they used to be. If that is so, then disclosure behavior of firms should receive more supervision and control, yielding significant increases in the quantity and quality of firms disclosures and decreases in information asymmetry. Thus, after adopting these standards, Chinese firms should expect narrower bid-ask spreads, an economic benefit from increased disclosure suggested by Level (1988). In this paper, I extend prior research in several ways. First, I examine the role of auditing regulations in reducing information asymmetry. Only few studies have directly investigated whether audit quality enhances disclosure quality, reducing both information asymmetry and cost of capital in the U. S. (see Searcher 2003). 5 A plausible reason for the paucity of research in this area might be that the rich disclosure environment of U. S. Firms limits the incremental impact of audit quality on accounting disclosure quality (Healy and Pale 2001). In contrast, the disclosure level in the Chinese emerging market is relatively low, thus audit opinions could envoy useful information to the market about the quality of a firms accounting information. Empirical studies on Chinese capital markets have documented links between auditing regulations and audit qualifications (Defend et al. 2000), and between audit qualifications and market return (Gull et al. 2003). I extend this line of research by investigating the impact of increased auditing regulation on firms accounting disclosure on information asymmetry (e. G. , see Yon 1998). As noted by Callahan et al. (1997), these studies focus only on the short-run information symmetry risk faced by dealers and investors rather than the long-run information asymmetry risk, which is of much concern to policy-makers and regulators. 6 In this study, I examine the long-term information asymmetry between the informed and uninformed traders caused by the structural differences in the access to information (Callahan et al. 997, 57). Finally, the Chinese emerging market implemented a series of auditing standards within a short period. The incremental effects of increased accounting disclosure on information asymmetry in such an environment should be much more significant than in a rich disclosure environment f developed markets (Overreached 2001). In addition, this study is also the first to explicitly stud y economic link between increased accounting disclosures on information asymmetry in an emerging market. I compare an experimental group of firms not previously audited under any auditing standards to a control group of firms previously audited under the international auditing standards. 7 1 will investigate whether the experimental firms bid-ask spreads declined significantly subsequent to the adoption of the new auditing standards (controlling for other known bid-ask spreads determinants). Further, I will conduct time-series intervention analyses to examine the experimental groups spread reductions are significant and permanent and whether there is a significant decline in control groups bid-ask spread. The results of this paper could have implications for policy-makers and regulators, and in particular, those in emerging economies. Policy-makers and regulators usually state that high quality accounting and/or auditing standards result in greater investor confidence, which improves liquidity, reduces capital cost, and makes market prices possible (Levity 1998, 81). A good effort on accounting/auditing policy-making and regulation should help the emerging economies improve information environment and market liquidity. The results suggest that auditing standards enhance disclosure quality, and that regulators in emerging economies should focus on auditing regulations to enhance audit quality in addition to their efforts to improve corporate accounting disclosure. 8 The remainder of the paper will be organized as follows. Section two will present the motivations for the study and the institutional settings of the Chinese emerging market. Overviews of prior research and hypothesis placement are to be presented in section three. Section four will describe the research design, and section five will present the empirical results.

Cool and Non-Sentimental Love Quotes

Cool and Non-Sentimental Love Quotes Most love quotes are excessively mushy and sentimental. They can get sickeningly sweet at times. If you are the type who likes to keep things cool, you probably wish for some quotes that are not dripping with oodles of sentiment. So, here are a few cool love quotes just for you. Cool Love Quotes from Famous People Mignon McLaughlin  We choose those we like; with those we love, we have no say in the matter.Eva GaborLove is a game that two can play and both win.H. L. MenckenLove is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.StendhalA very small degree of hope is sufficient to cause the birth of love.Brendan BehanThe most important things to do in the world are to get something to eat, something to drink and somebody to love you.Emma Goldman Free love? As if love is anything but free.  Man  has bought brains, but all the millions in the world have failed to buy love. Cathy Carlyle  Love is an electric blanket with somebody else in control of the switch.Edvard MunchThere is a battle that goes on between men and women. Many people call it love.Mignon McLaughlinMumps, measles, and puppy love are terrible after twenty.Venus de MiloA  good love  is delicious, you cant get enough too soon. It makes you so crazy you want to swallow the moon.Judith ViorstLove is when you realize that hes as sexy as Woody Allen, as smart as Jimmy Connors, as funny as Ralph Nader, as athletic as Henry Kissinger and nothing like Robert Redford - but youll take him anyway.Jules RenardLove is like an hourglass with the heart filling up as the brain empties.E. M.  CiorianThe art of love? Its knowing how to join the temperament of a vampire with the discretion of an anemone.Shelley WintersWe had a lot in common. I  loved him  and he loved him.Jamacia KincaidHe must have smiled at me, though I dont really know,  but  I dont like to think that I would love someone who hadnt first smiled at me.Erich FrommLove is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence. Anonymous Love Quotes Anonymous  The most eloquent silence; that of two mouths meeting in a kiss. AnonymousLoving someone that doesnt  love you  is like reaching for a star. You know youll never reach it but you just got to keep trying. Anonymous  Sometimes we make love with our eyes. Sometimes we make love with our hands. Sometimes we make love with our bodies. Always we make love with our hearts.

Sexual diversity in schooling Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Sexual diversity in schooling - Essay Example schools in Australia through the education system about sexual diversity and inculcate in them values such as inclusion, respect for others, and fairness. The fact is, however, that sexual diversity remains a controversial topic and has largely been ignored in the education systems (Herron, & Javier, 2006). This essay will criticize the failure of the school education system to incorporate sexual diversity. The essay will also examine the consequences of failing to address these issues and helping to deal with homophobia among children and young people. According to the Australian Journal of Human Rights, sexual diversity refers to one’s experience of gender identity or transgender that goes beyond the binary or biological notions of being either male or female (Steinberg, 2009). Dr. Tracie O’Keefe originally coined the term in his paper about human rights submitted to Amnesty International in 2002. The term has gained wide usage in many circles within Australia. Sexual diversity mostly aims at celebrating diversity in gender identities as opposed to categorizing people in different sexes or genders. Sexual diversity is also a general term referring to individuals who do not identify with either masculinity or femininity with regard to their gender identity. The term includes different groups such as androgynous, transsexual, transexed, cross dressers or transgender. Other terms popular in various parts of Australia include pan-gendered, sistergirl or brotherboy, and intergender (Dijk, & Driel, 2007). Sexual diversity also includes other minority groups such as lesbians, gays, and bisexuals. These groups of individuals have received widespread discrimination and segregation in the community. Sexual diversity has been a major human rights issue in Australia in the past few years, with cases of homophobia, exclusion being on the rise. The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been at the forefront in fighting for inclusion of transgender individuals in

Cultural studies project on Media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cultural studies project on Media - Essay Example "The King of Queens" is an Emmy nominated series that ran from 1998 to 2007. It showcases the life of blue-collar couple Doug and Carrie Heffman, as they struggle with work and other issues. "Ugly Betty" is particularly interesting because it represents the stereotypical migrant Mexican family, struggling to make ends meet in America. Betty was born of and lives with her poor but upright family, which comprises of her father, her older sister and her young, gay nephew. They are not the typical working class family for a variety of reasons. While in most cases, working class families are portrayed as scrupulous and scheming, Betty's family, most especially her father (whose values Betty tries to take after) are the paragons of morality in the show. Setting them against the high-paced, cruel fashion world where Betty works, they end up solving most of their problems and the problems of those around them, often without compromising their values. Also, Betty's family stays intact and loving amidst all of the drama. Usually, when a working class family is the subject of a television show, internal conflicts and uber-dramatic exits and falling outs within the family is the main drive of the story.

Critically review the situation at RestaurantCo Essay Example for Free

Critically review the situation at RestaurantCo Essay This essay analyses the case of RestaurantCo, a large non-unionised restaurant company with over 300 branches across the UK, and more than 7000 employed staff members (Suter Marchington 2011). According to Brad and Gold (2012, p.401) the term non-unionised is a ‘workplace, where managers have flexibility in designing work, selecting, promotion and training people, and determining rewards and other human resources (HR) practices.’ As briefly defined managers carry out many duties and responsibilities for the business. In order to have a better understanding of the role of line managers and employee relations at RestaurantCo it would be necessary to explore and outline the strengths and weaknesses of the company. To be more specific, this essay will explore and outline the main strengths and weaknesses in the working style of branch managers and the structural centralisation within the organisation, the formal and informal employee involvement and participation (EIP) practices, the working relationships between front line managers and employees, and the competitive effectiveness of the organisational HRM system and capability framework for branch managers. This case study of RestaurantCo focuses on the organisational problems that stems from the centralisation of corporate decision making and monitoring. The company regarded itself as a high quality restaurant business with a strong focus on positive employee relations thus reflected in their history of informal employment relations approach (Suter Marchington 2011). However, since the change in ownership the company had to implement new business strategies and HR practices as well as make further enhancements to the restaurant environment. For instance, the changes in the restaurant environment included refurbishments, expanded food and drinks menus, and cost savings by integrating the supply chain with other  restaurants owned by the group (Suter Marchington 2011). Consequently, some of these changes were seen as quite extensive and problematic for restaurant managers. For instance, some of these organisational changes were somewhat inefficient and costly in terms of deliveries and that mistakes were frequently made in the order and supply of ingredients (Suter Marchington 2011). Managers were no longer able to order directly from suppliers but instead were instructed to direct their orders through the supply chain department, whose understanding of the needs of individual branches were seen as limited (Suter Marchington 2011). There were also additional changes in improving customer service such as the introduction to the ‘Mystery Customer’ initiative (Suter Marchington 2011, p.213). This program initiative was seen as a form of corporate centralised monitoring and control of service, which somewhat contradicts the supposed given autonomy to branch managers. This demonstrates senior management distrust in its branch managers’ abilities to meet or fulfil their duties and responsibilities. This form of control violates the ‘psychological contract’ between the branch managers and employers which is also known as a ‘two-way exchanged of perceived promises and obligations between employees and their employer’ (Bratton Gold, 2012, p. 12). In this case, senior management had infringed on the trust between its branch managers by having a ‘centralised monitoring system’ in placed to gather customer information and business performance, thus in turn violat ing their psychological contract (Suter Marchington 2011). Consequently, creating a negative ‘low-trust and low-commitment’ relationship compared to a ‘high-trust and high-commitment’ participatory relationship between senior management and branch managers (Bratton Gold, 2012, p. 160). Nevertheless, control is seen as somewhat necessary by senior management, but ‘too much control might be counterproductive’ (Dant Nasr, 1998, p. 7). Hence, ‘excessive levels of control’ should be carefully considered as it will ‘impact on business performance levels’ (Dant Nasr, 1998, p. 7). As stated in Dant and Nasr (1998, p.7) tight control is generally not perceived well by managers who are driven by a strong desire for ‘independence and autonomy’, they may withheld ‘authentic and helpful information’ from senior management or employers in order to preserve some indirect form of control as they might believe that their input would not be valued or validated. In th is particular case, tight control would lead to less cooperation between branch managers and senior management. Furthermore, feedback from mystery customers to senior management may not be as useful or informative compared to the managers’ vast degree of knowledge and experience regarding its local business restaurant market environment and business performance levels. Rather than just rewarding ‘performance related bonus’ to managers who receive an overall satisfactory rating from mystery customers there should also be incentives or reward schemes in placed for managers who actually provide ‘authentic and helpful information’ to senior management (Michael, 2002, p. 329). This sort of privileged information could further enhance the organisation’s productivity and performance. For instance, the organisation would have a greater competitive advantage through new strategic opportunities and awareness of new threats as mentioned by its’ branch managers (Michael, 2002, p. 329). This ‘upward’ flow of information decentralises the tight monitoring and control of senior management but more importantly strengthens the communication, commitment, trust and employee relations between senior management and its branch managers through reciprocal cooperation and reward schemes (Michael, 2002, p. 329). It is crucial in service industries that branch managers be given more autonomy to make operational decisions as their understanding of the business environment surrounding their individual branches is relatively more extensive compare to senior management and management support, who have limited understanding of the business environment. This process is referred to as ‘decentralisation’ (Dant Nasr, 1998). According to Suter and Marchington (2011), each restaurant establishment was usually run by a branch manager and two assistants. The role of supervisory responsibilities was shared between the branch manager and assistant manager due to the long operating hours and the shift system, hence, the manager on duty would take on the role of supervising employees (Suter Marchington 2011). The manager on duty dealt primarily with problems and issues in regards to employees, and that wider issues were assigned to the branch manager. The branch managers in addition carried out a number of HR functions such as employment appraisals, pay reviews, and personal development plans (Suter Marchington 2011). These branch managers had described their work as being more intensified and that the HR policies had become more sophisticated and  formalised (Suter Marchington 2011). Branch managers were supposedly allowed a fair degree of autonomy in how they could manage the restaurant. A key element of the capability framework enabled branch managers to take charge of their own delivery and performance. However, managers experienced great difficulty in making operational decisions regarding their restaurant. Some of the reasons were due to the fact that the management support team were not always readily available to branch managers but also that company-wide operational decisions were being implemented at branch levels, in turn conflicting with branch managers’ operational decisions (Suter Marchington 2011). Branch managers should be provided with support throughout the restaurant operational hours from the management support office except, the restaurant support team operates on a 9-5 office-based workplace arrangement (Suter Marchington 2011). This would lead to significant problems when the restaurant requires assistance after the support office ends operation, therefore causing an inconvenience when decision and support is needed. It might also affect the organisation’s reputation if issues are not promptly resolved. Without proper support and facilitation from the support management team, branch managers are unable to perform their role efficiently. Under the influence of senior management, branch managers were pressured into implementing formal relationship practices with their employees (Suter Marchington 2011). However, one of the core components of a psychological contract is ‘workplace communication’ which will generally help to minimize the ‘false consensus effect,’ meaning that people assume that they share the same perceptions (Bratton Gold, 2012, p. 433). For instance, branch managers perceived the restaurant and its employment relations as informal whereas head office had expressed the need for more professional management and more importantly had over-rated the formality of policy implementation at branch level (Suter Marchington 2011). Notably, communication is a significant component of a psychological contrast as it is quite evident that branch managers and senior management had conflicting views on how the restaurant business needed to be operated. Alternatively, It would be beneficial for senior management and branch managers to effectively communicate their views across to one another in order to minimize the ‘false consensus effect’ (Bratton Gold, 2012, p. 433). Again, to ensure that this can actually happen, senior management  would need to be more readily available to branch managers and vice versa in order to strengthen the psychological contract between them. According to the branch managers the organisational change brought about more job responsibilities, intensified workload and more expectations from senior management (Suter Marchington 2011). Whilst handling their ‘supervisory responsibilities’, the day–to-day HR functions and operational responsibilities such as ordering and control of stock/supplies, forecasting labour budgets and marketing initiatives were devolved into the roles of branch managers (Suter Marchington 2011). This devolvement of HR functions into the role of branch managers goes beyond the parameters of what is required of branch managers. Despite this, senior management have not provided their branch manager with further additional training in their new responsibilities and duties neither has it been outlined in their legal binding contract. Even though the assistant managers and branch managers shared the same responsibilities of supervising the employees, employees still reported directly to the branch managers (Suter Marchington 2011). Instead of sharing this supervisory responsibility of employees, it would be more efficient and productive to delegate this responsibility to the assistant manager so that branch managers can focus more on the operational responsibilities and HR functions. Another obstacle branch managers had identified was their inability to make operational decisions regarding the day-to-day running of the branch due to the lack of coordination or collaboration in the senior management company-wide operational decision-making process (Suter Marchington 2011). This in effect reinforces senior management distrust in its branch managers’ ability to fulfil their role and therefore, causing resentment and animosity towards senior management from its branch managers. According to Dant and Gundlach (1998, p.37) ‘excessive controls aimed at monitoring’ employees can be costly as it can generate ‘motivational and morale problems’ among employees. It is important from a management perspective to ‘balance the forces of dependence and autonomy’ within the business in order to maintain ‘the long run viability’ of the business organisation (Dant Gundlach, 1998, p. 37). In terms of achieving overall effectiveness senior management need to contribute to a more productive relationship between branch managers and employees in their organisation. Another important aspect to consider is  that the company and branch units have ‘contrasting economic and managerial characteristics’ (Bradach, 1997, p. 276) whereby, the senior management of the company must meet two key management challenges: ‘maintaining uniformity and system-wide adaptability’ (Bradach, 1997, p. 277). With reference to RestaurantCo, units in a chain share a common identity by operating under the RestaurantCo trademark (Bradach, 1997, p. 277). There are five underlying categories of uniformity in an organisation and they are, ‘the line manager, organisational systems, learning culture, role and responsibility and HR department and professionalism’ (Harrison, 2011, p. 921). In order to ‘preserve the integrity and value’, the company must enforce uniformity across these five underlying categories through bureaucratic control and standardisation (Bradach, 1997, p. 277). Furthermore, in order to ensure the sustainability of the company, it must be able to adapt to the ‘opportunities and threats’ (Bradach, 1997, p. 282). In addition, senior managers must identify and implement system-wide adaptation processes and practices that will fit to some extent across all of the individual branches, except the main challenge of this is to ensure that all the branches move in the same direction. The ‘plural form’ model of management proposed by Bradach (1997) can be used to effectively a ddress the uniformity and system-wide adaptability problems. The ‘plural form’ consists of four processes which are as followed: ‘modelling process, ratcheting process, socialisation process and mutual learning process’ (Bradach, 1997, p. 283). Through these processes the company can pursue greater uniformity and improve system-wide adaptation across the restaurant chains (Bradach, 1997, p. 283). The modelling process is focused on the structural element of the management by increasing the use of common practices across the organisation and the restaurant chains (Bradach, 1997, p. 283). The ratcheting process is part of the control system of management which enables both branch managers and senior managers to influence each other as well as increase the level of uniformity and performance of the chain overall (Bradach, 1997, p. 283). The socialisation process reflects the career path aspect of management, which essentially helps to create a shared understanding of what is required to operate a restaurant, thus will increase the uniformity across the chain (Bradach, 1997, p. 283). Lastly, the mutual learning process is also referred to as the strategy making  process, which focuses on improving the system-wide adaptability by providing ‘performance data and demonstrating new ideas to help persuade branch managers to adopt the proposed system-wide adaptations’ (Bradach, 1997, p. 283). Overall the ‘plural form’ is used to overcome some of the control problems associated with managing restaurant branches and maintaining uniformity across the chain (Bradach, 1997). Another important key issue highlighted from this case study is how formal and informal employee involvement and participation (EIP) practices are implemented by management. According to the RestaurantCo capability framework which consisted of eight capabilities, four related specifically to informal EIP (Suter Marchington 2011). EIP is influenced or shaped by four dimensional factors which are, the two type of ‘forms of EIP’ (formal and informal EIP), ‘degree of involvement of the employees’ (ranged from very little to a considerable amount), ‘different levels of EIP within the organisation’ (head office to branch level) and ‘scope of subject matter’ (long term plans that are central to the organisation and short term issues regarding the restaurant) (Marchington Kynighou, 2012, p. 3338). RestaurantCo depend heavily on their employees’ interaction with customers, for this reason it is noticeably best to implement informal EIP because their engagement with customers is instrumental to the organisational performance levels and profitability. By using informal EIP branch managers are able to gain employees’ affective commitment to the organisation (Rodrigues, 1994). Although, branch managers must take into consideration the contextual circumstances in relation to the restaurant and the four contingencies outlined above to assist in determining the appropriate EIP to implement for their given work situation (Rodrigues, 1994). More specifically, formal EIP was utilised in the larger and busier restaurant branches as branch managers had less time to involve employees informally and formal EIP was the most effective way of bringing staff members up to date with important information and news (Suter Marchington 2011). On the other hand, informal EIP was utilised or practised more predominately in the smaller branch restaurants (Suter Marchington 2011). However, effective co-existence of formal and informal EIP is essential for the organisation’s long term sustainability (Denton, 1994). Informality at RestaurantCo is an effective instrument of recognising and managing employee voice (Denton, 1994). The  role of informality is to give employees an open channel for informal communications with managers, so that they can address their concerns and to give informative feedback on work related issues (Beattie, 2006). The constant changeability and flexibility of the workplace environment, illustrates the need for informal day-to-day communications in comparison to official formalised meetings with employees, which can be more costly and time consuming. Above all, the flexibility and diversity of organisational arrangements in the service industry reinforces the need for the implementation of informal EIP practices (Beattie, 2006). In summary, the RestaurantCo case study illustrated some important strengths and weaknesses in the HR management practices and organisational frameworks. Overall, several weaknesses were identified such as the need for informal relations between line managers and employees, the importance of decentralisation to enable cooperation and collaboration between branch managers and senior management through the ‘plural form’ model. Furthermore, it was exemplified that there should be a co-existence and implementation of both formal and informal EIP in the workplace. Evidently, business performance levels can be improved by balancing the dependency and autonomy of branch managers, so that they can efficiently perform to their capabilities. In conclusion, this essay highlighted some positive and negative issues regarding operational responsibilities of senior management and branch managers. References Beattie, RS 2006, Line Managers and Workplace Learning: Learning from the voluntary sector,Human Resource Developmental International, vol.9, no.1, pp. 99-119, viewed 2 Setptember 2013, Ebsco database. Bradach, JL 1997, Using the plural form in the management of restaurant chains, Administrativ.e Science Quarterly, vol.42, no.2, pp. 276-303 viewed 2 September 2013, Ebsco database. Bratton, J Gold, J 2012 Human Resource Management: theory and practice, 5th edn, Palgrave Macmillan, London. Dant, RP Gundlach, GT 1998, Dependence in Franchised Channels of Distribution, Journal of Business Venturing, Vol. 14, pp. 35-67 viewed on 2 September 2013, Ebsco database. Dant, RP Nasr, NI 1998, Control techniques and upward flow of information in franchising in distant  markets:conceptualisation and preliminary evidence, Journal of Business Venturing, Vol.13, pp. 3-28 viewed on 2 September 2013, Ebsco database. Denton, DK 1994, Empowerment through Employee Involvement and Participation: Fords Development and Training Programs, Empowerment in Organisations: An International Journal,vol. , no.2, pp. 22-28 viewed on 2 September 2013, Ebsco database. Harrison, P 2011, Perspective on Practice: Learning culture, line managers and HR professional practice,Journal of European Indutrial Training ,vol. 35, no.9, pp. 914-928 viewed on 2 September 2013, Ebsco database. Marchington, M Kynighou, A 2012, The dynamics of employee involvement and participation during turbulent times, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, vol.23, no.16, pp. 3336-3354 viewed on 2 September 2013, Ebsco database. Michael, S C 2002, Can a franchise chain coordinate?, Journal of Business Venturing, Vol.17, pp. 325-341 viewed on 2 September 2013, Ebsco database. Rodrigues, CA 1994, Employee Participation and Empowerment Programs: Problems of definition and implementation,Empowerment in Organisations,vol. 2, no.2, pp. 29-40 viewed on 2 September 2013, Ebsco database. Suter, J Marchington, M 2011, ‘The role of line managers and employee voice in the restaurant industry’, in T Dundon and A Wilkinson (eds), Case studies in global management: Strategy, innovation and people management, Tilde Press, pp. 212-220

Physics of Lightning Essay -- physics lightning thunder weather

In ancient times, lightning was seen as a tool of the gods. In Viking legend, it was Thor’s hammer striking an anvil in the sky that was responsible for lightning. For the Greeks, it was Zeus who threw lightning down to the earth. North American Indian tribes thought that lightning was produced by a mystical bird with flashing feathers whose flapping caused thunder. Even now, hundreds of years after the first scientific work with lightning, people remain in awe of its power. In the 18th century, the first systematic scientific study of lightning was carried out by Benjamin Franklin. Before Franklin’s experiments, electrical science had grown to the point of separating positive and negative charges, and had developed primitive capacitors. The sparks produced in laboratories were noted as similar to lightning, but it was Franklin who designed an experiment to prove that lightning was electrical. Benjamin Franklin believed that clouds must be electrically charged, which would mean that lightning must also be electrical. For his first experiment, he stood on an electrical stand with an iron rod in one hand to achieve an electrical discharge between the other hand and the ground. If Franklin’s belief that the clouds were electrically charged was correct, then sparks should leap between the iron rod and a grounded wire held by and insulating wax candle. This test method was published in London and performed in both England and France. Thomas Francois D’Alibard of France was the first to successfully perform this experiment in May of 1752, when sparks were seen jumping from the iron rod during a thunderstorm. Before Benjamin Franklin achieved results from his first experiment, he devised a better way of testing his hyp... ...wave). Lightning is often seen long before its thunder is heard. This is because sound travels at about 343 m/s though air, much more slowly than 3.00x108 m/s, the speed of light. While a lightning strike takes less than a second to complete, the sound of its thunder often lasts much longer. There are many reasons for this. The shape of the lightning bolt is a major factor, as all parts are not an equal distance from the listener. Sound produced by closer portions of the bolt will be the first of the thunder a listener hears, and sound produced by portions of the bolt that are farther away will be heard later. Another factor is that objects on the ground interfere with the sound, and echoes from hills and other objects can perpetuate thunder. Often lightning occurs in groups, so the sounds from multiple bolts sometimes overlap to cause longer lasting thunder.

Performance Appraisal and Employee Motivation

1. 1. INTRODUCTION: Organization is run and steered by people. It is through people that goals are set and objectives are realized. Today’s working culture demands a great deal of commitment and effort from the employees, who in turn naturally expect a great deal more from their employers. The development of much more participative style of management in many organizations is a positive step towards meeting such heightened expectations. This participative style can be expressed in a variety of practical ways. For e. g. work teams, quality circles, and of course regular performance appraisals. The performance of the organization is dependent on sum total of the performance of its employees. Thus the success of the organization will, therefore depend on its ability to measure accurately the performance of its members and use it objectively to optimize them as a vital resources. Performance can be measured by some combination of quantity, quality, time and cost. Performance thus refers to the degree of accomplishment of the tasks that make up an individual job.It indicates how well an individual is fulfilling the job demands. And on the other hand success of any organization can almost always be tracked back to the level of motivation among its employees to whom its success can be accredited to, without a doubt. Motivation is must for the employees, because it converts ability to work into will to work or in other words contributes to high level of performance. Presence of effective motivational policies in the company leads to job satisfaction and consequent benefits of higher commitment and loyalty.Keeping in mind the growing attrition rates and the employee dissatisfaction among the employees, the HR professionals are approaching and using the performance appraisal as a fuel to motivate employees. The latest trend being followed by the HR professionals is to use the performance appraisal and review process as a motivating mechanism. Various surveys and s tudies have testified the relationship between performance review, pay and motivation. Other than the traditional goal of accessing the performance of the employees,Performance appraisals and reviews can be used as a tool to reinforce the desired behavior and competent performance of the employees. Performance appraisal can have a profound effect on levels of employee motivation and satisfaction for better as well as for worse. Performance appraisal provides employees with recognition for their work efforts. The power of social recognition as an incentive has been long noted. In fact, there is evidence that human beings will even prefer negative recognition in preference to no recognition at all.One of the most motivating factors for the employees, in the performance appraisal processes is to receive a fair an accurate assessment of their performance. Inaccurate evaluation is one reason because of which most employees dead going through performance appraisal. An employee always expe cts his appraiser to recognize and appreciate his achievements, support him to overcome the problems and failures. The discrepancies and the inaccuracies in the performance review can demotivate the employees, even if there has been an increase in the salary. Such inaccuracy can kill the innovating and risk taking enthusiasm and spirit in the employees.Similarly, inaccurate reviews with no hike in compensation can increase the attrition rate in the organization, forcing the employees to look out for other options. An employee prefers an accurate performance review with no increase in the salary over inaccurate performance review with an increase in salary. Employees, who receive both accuracy and a pay increase during their performance review, are likely to be the most motivated. Therefore, performance appraisal (review and its consequence in the form of compensation adjustments) has the potential of motivating employees and increase their job satisfaction.Inaccurate performance rev iew + Increase in salary Decreased Motivation Accurate Performance Review + No Increase in salary Decreased Motivation Accurate Performance Review + Increase in salary Increase in motivation If nothing else, the existence of an appraisal program indicates to an employee that in the organization is genuinely interested in their individual performance and development. This alone can have a positive influence on the employee motivation, sense of worth, commitment and belonging.The strength and prevalence of this natural human desire for individual recognition shouldn’t be overlooked. Absenteeism and turnover rates in some organizations might be greatly reduced if more attention were paid to it. Regular performance appraisal, at least, is a good start. In an organization it is necessary to measure the performance of their employees and success of any organization can almost always be tracked back to the level of motivation among its employees. So the study was done to measure the impact of motivation after performance appraisal. 1. 2. NEED OF THE STUDY:Performance appraisal is the important aspect in the organization to evaluate the employee performance. It is needed for an organization to take decision regarding salary revision, confirmation, promotion, transfer and demotion. It gives feedback information about the level of achievement and behavior of subordinate. This information helps to review the performance of the subordinate, rectifying performance deficiencies and setting new standards of work, if necessary. It provides information which helps to council the subordinate. It also helps in understanding the employee work culture, involvement and satisfaction.It helps to diagnose the deficiencies in employee regarding skill, knowledge, determine training and development needs and to prescribe the means for employee growth. It has many other uses in the human resource management, namely, determination of the training and development needs of the personn el, creating organizational effectiveness, cross functional transfers, job enrichment exercises, and so on. For all this to happen, it is essential that the performance appraisal system should suite the organizational culture and is in alignment with other human resource systems in operation in the organization.The main purpose of conducting appraisals is to identify and removing factors responsible for employee’s discontent would motivate them for better work performance. This study gives the clear picture regarding the appraisal system regarding the appraisal system and its impact on motivation. 1. 3. SCOPE OF THE STUDY: The scope of the study is to understand that the performance appraisal system and employee motivation activities provided by the organization make any changes or improvement in the performance of employees.Satisfied employees are the asset of the organization. This study helps the organization to understand to what extend the employees are satisfied with th e present performance appraisal system and employee motivation prevailing in the organization. On the basis of that the organization makes necessary changes in the existing system. This will help the organization to improve the overall performance. This study will enable to understand the positive and negative aspects of performance appraisal system and employee motivation 1. 4 . OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:Objectives of the study have been divided into primary and secondary objectives. Primary objective: * To study whether the employees are motivated with the performance appraisal system. Secondary objective: * To know whether the employees are given proper feedback regarding their performance. * To understand the rating methods used for performance appraisal. * To understand the superior and employee relationship. * To provide suggestions for improvement, if any. * To study about performance effect on employee motivation. * To know he factors that motivates the employees. * To study t he employees opinion about the performance appraisal system. 1. 5. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: This area deals with the research design, data collection methods, sampling techniques used; field work carried out by the researcher and also explains the tools used for the data analysis and interpretation. Research design A Research Design is a logical and systematic plan prepared for directing a research study. It specifies the objectives of the study, the methodology and the techniques adopted for achieving the objectives.It is a planned structure and strategy of investigation conceived so as to obtain answers to research questions and constitutes the blue print for the collection, representation and analysis of data. In short, it is the logical and systematic plan prepared for directing the research study. A good research design should consist of, * Clear statement of research design. * Procedure and techniques to be followed for gathering information. * Population to be studied. * Methods to be used in processing and analyzing data. Type of research The type of research done is descriptive research.Descriptive research includes surveys and fact-finding enquiries of different kinds. The major purpose of this research is description of state of affairs, as it exists at present. It is very simple and more specific. The main feature of this type of research is that the researcher has no control over the variables. He can only report what has happened or what is happening. The descriptive research is a fact finding investigation with adequate interpretation. The descriptive study aims at identifying the various characteristics of a problem under study.

History of graphic design Essay

To understand the nature and characteristics of visual communication, first it is important to define visual communication. Well, as the name suggests, it is communication of ideas and information through visual representation and display. Basically, it involves photography, signs, art and typography. However, recent studies and research on the subject have revealed that now visual communication is a more focused term, involving mainly web and graphic designs used for advertising. Earlier, visual communication was not a commercialised phenomenon. The first time an outdoor public space was rented for advertising purpose was in USA in the late 1860’s. However, until the early 20th century, advertising was unregulated in the United States. Ranging from products such as drugs, oils and ointments, any thing could be sold without proper verification. For instance, the advertisement of the of Merchant’s Gargling Oil, 1894, shows the oil to be ‘A Liniment for Man and Beast’ and below it is inscribed that yellow wrapper was for animal and white for beast. Companies selling such products could easily deceive people by selling of a same potion, wrapped differently. The rise of graphic designing and advertising, as complimentary to each other, was seen in the late 19th century as business directories started using different type sizes for the names of various companies, so as to identify each company and the products that it sold. Then advertisements promising job opportunities and a high standard of living and attracting people to come and settle in particular states, became popular. Here again, a very good example is the sunset magazine cover, published din 1904. The cover image displayed California, the ‘Golden State’ as a paradise with fruit orchards and 2 History of graphic design 3 pleasure for the youth. to change its image. The 19th century was however, characteristic of a stale and stagnant designing strategy. But, in the early 20th century, the graphic designers started to use the sans-serif font. Although the change was not significant, it was a slow evolution of graphic designing. They did not have the advantage of computer use and software products like Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, QuarkXPress and Corel Graphics Suite, just to name a few. Creating designs with the use of technology was a very challenging and arduous task. However, in 1890s, Frederic Goudy’s ‘The Inland Press, 1898, and Printer’s Ink, were among the first publications designed to serve the graphic designing world with technical knowledge. There are great names that had emerged and gained popularity in the early 20th century itself. One such designer was Eric Gill, a well known British typographer, sculptor and engraver. His first successful work was ‘Mother and Child’ created in 1912. Gill invented the Perpetua typescript on the foundation of Classical Roman letters for Morison in 1925. Herbert Bayer born in 1900 was another famous designer of this period. He invented a vivid visual style of designing and believed in clear simplification. Herbert Bayer became the art director of the Berlin affiliate of Vogue magazine in 1928. With graphics designing gaining ground as a coveted profession and increased use of technology in the industry, there has been no looking back.

Operation Cobra in World War II

Operation Cobra in World War II Operation Cobra was conducted from July 25 to 31, 1944, during World War II (1939-1945). After the Allied landings in Normandy, commanders began to formulate a plan to push out from the beachhead. Initial efforts were hampered by the need to take the city of Caen in the east and the dense hedgerow country in the west. Seeking to launch a major breakout, General Omar Bradley sought to focus the Allies efforts on a narrow front west of St. Là ´. Moving forward on July 25 after the area had been heavy bombed, American troops achieved a breakthrough. By the third day, most organized German resistance had been overcome and the speed of the advance increased. Coupled with assaults by British and Canadian forces, Operation Cobra led to the collapse of the German position in Normandy. Background Landing in Normandy on D-Day (June 6, 1944), Allied forces quickly consolidated their foothold in France. Pushing inland, American forces in the west encountered difficulty negotiating the bocage of Normandy. Hampered by this vast network of hedgerows, their advance was slow. As June passed, their greatest successes came on the Cotentin Peninsula where troops secured the key port of Cherbourg. To the east, British and Canadian forces fared little better as they sought to capture the city of Caen. Grappling with the Germans, the Allied efforts around the city succeeded drawing the bulk of the enemy armor to that sector (Map). Eager to break the deadlock and begin mobile warfare, Allied leaders began planning for a breakout from the Normandy beachhead. On July 10, following the capture of the northern part of Caen, the commander of the 21st Army Group, Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery, met with General Omar Bradley, commander of the US First Army, and Lieutenant General Sir Miles Dempsey, commander of the British Second Army, to discuss their options. Admitting progress was slow on his front, Bradley put forward a breakout plan dubbed Operation Cobra which he hoped to launch on July 18. Lt. Gen. Omar Bradley (center) with Lt. General George S. Patton (left) and General Sir Bernard Montgomery (right) at 21st Army Group HQ, Normandy, 7 July 1944. Public Domain Planning Calling for a massive offensive to the west of Saint-Là ´, Operation Cobra was approved by Montgomery who also directed Dempsey to keep pressing around Caen to hold the German armor in place. To create the breakthrough, Bradley intended to focus the advance on a 7,000 yard stretch of the front south of the Saint-Là ´Ã¢â‚¬â€œPeriers Road. Prior to the attack an area measuring 6,000 Ãâ€" 2,200 yards would be subjected to heavy aerial bombardment. With the conclusion of the air strikes, the 9th and 30th Infantry Divisions from Major General J. Lawton Collins VII Corps would move forward opening a breach in the German lines. These units would then hold the flanks while the 1st Infantry and 2nd Armored Divisions drove through the gap. They were to be followed by a five or six division exploitation force. If successful, Operation Cobra would allow American forces to escape the bocage and cut off the Brittany peninsula. To support Operation Cobra, Dempsey commenced Operations Goodwood and Atlantic on July 18. Though these took substantial casualties, they succeeded in capturing the remainder of Caen and forced the Germans to retain seven of the nine panzer divisions in Normandy opposite the British. Armies Commanders Allies Field Marshal Bernard MontgomeryGeneral Omar Bradley11 divisions Germans Field Marshal Gunther von KlugeColonel General Paul Hausser8 divisions Moving Forward Though the British operations commenced on July 18, Bradley elected to delay several days due to poor weather over the battlefield. On July 24, Allied aircraft began striking the target area despite questionable weather. As a result, they accidentally inflicted around 150 friendly fire casualties. Operation Cobra finally moved forward the next morning with over 3,000 aircraft striking the front. Friendly fire continued to be an issue as the attacks inflicted a further 600 friendly fire casualties as well as killed Lieutenant General Leslie McNair (Map). Advancing around 11:00 AM, Lawtons men were slowed by surprisingly stiff German resistance and numerous strong points. Though they gained only 2,200 yards on July 25, the mood in the Allied high command remained optimistic and the 2nd Armored and 1st Infantry Divisions joined the assault the next day. They were further supported by VIII Corps which began attacking German positions to the west. Fighting remained heavy on the 26th but began to wane on the 27th as German forces began retreating in the face of the Allied advance (Map). Breaking Out Driving south, German resistance was scattered and American troops captured Coutances on July 28 though they endured heavy fighting east of the town. Seeking to stabilize the situation, the German commander, Field Marshal Gunther von Kluge, began directing reinforcements west. These were intercepted by XIX Corps which had begun advancing on VII Corps left. Encountering the 2nd and 116th Panzer Divisions, XIX Corps became embroiled in heavy combat, but succeeded in shielding the American advance to the west. German efforts were repeatedly frustrated by Allied fighter bombers which swarmed over the area. U.S. tanks pass through a wrecked street in Coutances, Normandy in their drive to the sea beyond the town. National Archives and Records Admininstration With the Americans advancing along the coast, Montgomery directed Dempsey to begin Operation Bluecoat which called for an advance from Caumont towards Vire. With this he sought to hold German armor in the east while protecting Cobras flank. As British forces rolled forward, American troops captured the key town of Avranches which opened the way into Brittany. The next day, XIX Corps succeeded in turning back the last German counterattacks against the American advance. Pressing south, Bradleys men finally succeeded in escaping the bocage and began to drive the Germans before them. Aftermath As Allied troops were enjoying success, changes took place in command structure. With the activation of Lieutenant General George S. Pattons Third Army, Bradley ascended to take over the newly-formed 12th Army Group. Lieutenant General Courtney Hodges assumed command of First Army. Entering combat, Third Army poured into Brittany as the Germans attempted to regroup. Though the German command saw no other sensible course than to withdraw behind the Seine, they were ordered to conduct a large counterattack at Mortain by Adolf Hitler. Dubbed Operation Luttich, the attack began on August 7 and was largely defeated within twenty-four hours (Map). Sweeping east, American troops captured Le Mans on August 8. With his position in Normandy collapsing rapidly, Kluges Seventh and Fifth Panzer Armies risked being trapped near Falaise. Beginning on August 14, Allied forces sought to close the Falaise Pocket and destroy the German Army in France. Though nearly 100,000 Germans escaped the pocket before it was closed on August 22, around 50,000 were captured and 10,000 killed. In addition, 344 tanks and armored vehicles, 2,447 trucks/vehicles, and 252 artillery pieces were captured or destroyed. Having won the Battle of Normandy, Allied forces advanced freely to the Seine River reaching it on August 25.

How to Use SAT Scores Advice to Admissions and Employers

How to Use SAT Scores Advice to Admissions and Employers SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Standardized test scores have long had an important place in college admissions, as well as for some jobs.Schools and employers want to they accept the most talented people, so they often use SAT scores to judgeintelligence and future success.However, somecommon beliefsabout what SAT scores representare actually false. Read this guide to learn what information SAT scores can and cannot be used to determineand maximize the usefulness of standardized test scores for your school, business, or committee. Who Uses SAT Scores? First of all, who uses SAT scores? Standardized test scores areused by many different people and groups, and I'll discuss three of the most common below. College Admissions Officers Colleges and universities are, by far, the most frequent users of SAT scores.Most schools require applicants to submit standardized test scores as part of their application. SAT scores can be useful to colleges because they give them a standard way to measure intelligence and predict college success.While there are other ways of measuring a student’s academic abilities, such as their GPA and class rank, these can vary widely between schools. A student who gets an â€Å"A† in their high school’s calculus class may only have been awarded a â€Å"C† if they had done the same workat a different school due to grade inflation, class curves, and how hard the teacher grades. Using SAT scores gives colleges a clear and efficient way to evaluate high school students from around the world.As students apply to more schools, this criteria is becoming more important because most colleges receive thousands, if nottens of thousands, of applications each year.SAT scores give colleges a fast and unambiguous way to evaluate each application they receive. Employers It is less common for employers to use SAT scores, but it’s still done, particularly in the fields of consulting, software engineering, and investment banking.Similar to colleges, these companies want an easy and clear way to measure an applicant’s intelligence.SAT scorescan be especially useful for large companies thatreceive a lot of applications, as well as companies hiring recent graduates whodon’t have a lot of work experience. Scholarship Committees One of the SAT’s earliest purposes was actually as a scholarship test for Ivy League schools.Today, many scholarships require applicants to submit standardized test scores.Like colleges and employers, the SAT can give scholarship committees a simple and unambiguous way to measure student aptitude and compare students who may be otherwise similar. Many scholarships help pay for college, and thecommittees who oversee these scholarshipsoften want to award them to students who are most likely to put them to good use and do well in school. SAT scores are a way to predict which applicants have the highest likelihood of being successful. Don't use SAT scores for the reasons listed below. How Shouldn't You Use SAT Scores? First, let's go overwhat you should not be using SAT scores to determine. I've listedfour inaccurate ways to use SAT scores below and explainedwhy each onedoesn’t give wholly accurate information. As a Complete Indicator of Intelligence While the SAT is often used to determine how â€Å"smart† someone is, there are three problems with doing so. The first problem is that the SAT only tests a narrow set of skills and intelligence.The SAT can help estimate how good someone is at reading comprehension, identifying grammatical errors, and solving certain math problems, but in no way can a multiple choice test with an optional essay test all the complexities of intelligence. The SAT cannot measure a student’s creativity, research skills, interpersonal intelligence, ability to easily learn a new language,or many other indicators of intelligence.By testing only certain types of intelligence, the SAT favors students with these types of intelligence while putting students with types of intelligence that are more difficult to test at a disadvantage. The second problem with this way of understanding SAT scores is that test preparation can significantly raise your score.We at PrepScholar know that, through dedicated test prep, a student can significantly improve his or her SAT score.If one student gets a 1500 on the SAT without studying, and another raises his grade from a 1200 to a 1500 after 40 hours of studying, is one smarter than the other? Some may say the first student is smarter, but the decision to prepare for an important test like the SAT is also a measure of intelligence, so the answer is not really clear.Instead of measuring just intelligence, the SAT measures intelligence and motivation, because a student can have one or the other, or both, and do well on the test. The third problemis that outside factors unrelated to intelligence often have a strong impact on SAT performance.Multiple studies have shown that there is a significant gap between the SAT scores of rich and poor students.One recent study found that students from wealthy families score about 400 points higher on the SAT than students low-income families. This result makes some sense because students who come from wealthier backgrounds likely attend schools with more resources, have parents who can afford SAT prep materials and courses, and often receive more pressure from their parents to do well on the SAT.Therefore, using the SAT as a measure of intelligence can discriminate against students from poorer backgrounds, who are also more likely to be minorities. To Find a "Genius" Sometimesschools and employers will admit someone withperfect SAT scores and thinkthat person will be a genius, good at everything, or guaranteed to do well.A person who gets a perfect score on the SAT may, in fact, be very intelligent, but they may also have put a lot of time into preparing, gotten lucky that day, or a combination of the above. Regardless of the reason, a person who gets a perfect score on the SAT won’t necessarily do well in everything else.As mentioned above, the SAT only tests certain types of intelligence, which also means that a person widely considered to be intelligent may not get a perfect score or even do very well on the SAT at all. It also shouldn’t be assumed that people with perfect SAT scores are more intelligent than those who didn’t receive perfect scores, which leads into the next point. To Compare People With Similar Scores The SAT should not be used to compare the intelligence of people who received similar scores, or a difference around150 points or less. A person with a score of 1450 and a person with a score of 1400 likely had only a small difference between the number of questions they answered correctly. The person who received the 1450 shouldn’t be assumed to be smarter than the person who received the 1400. Their differences in score could simply be due to normal variation in SAT results. If they both took the SAT again, it’d be completely possible for the person who got the 1400 to get the higher score that time. A person's SAT scores can vary from test to test, and people can get questions right or wrong by mistake, which doesn’t necessarily reflect their intelligence.When two (or more) people have similar SAT scores, it’s not possible to determine who is more intelligent simply by looking at the slightly higher score because aperson’s score will generally fluctuate somewhat. Even small changes in the number of questions answered correctly can have a large effect on the final composite score. Don't compare applicants with very similar SAT scores. To Determine Specific Areas of Expertise The SAT also cannot, and should not, be used to judge someone’s skill level or knowledge of a specific topic.For example, a personwho got a perfect score on the SAT essay may not know how to write a research paper, and someone who didwell in themath section may not know anything about calculus. If you’re provided with subscores, they may givemore details on how well the applicant did in certain subjects, but this information should still not be used to make assumptions about specific skill setsand knowledge areas. What Should You Use SAT Scores For? So how can SAT scores be used? Three main ways are given below; in general, all involve using SAT scores to make broad inferences that can be further supported with additional information. To Estimate IQ SATs are certainly not a perfect way to measure how smart someone is, but there is a relationship between IQ and SAT score.While IQ only tests a certain type of problem-solving, (specifically the ability to solve problems based on the information you are given), it is still often used as a measure of intelligence. Meredith C. Gray and Douglas K. Detterman, two researchers at Case Western Reserve University, have conducted rigorous studies to better understand the relationship between standardized test scores and intelligence. From their research, they have found that there is a strong correlation between SAT scores and IQ. That means if someone scores well on the SAT then it is more likely, although not guaranteed, that they have a high IQ as well.Many schools and companies want to hire people with a certain level of intelligence in order to ensure they can handle the work, and while there are other types of intelligence that neither the SAT nor IQ exams test for, using SAT scores can be a good way to estimate IQ and intelligence if you have many applicants you don’t know much about. In order to be most accurate, other information, such as GPA and letters of recommendation should be used to support inferences made from SAT scores.A student with a high SAT score, excellent GPA, and a history of leadership in her extracurriculars has done well in high school and seems likely to continue that success.However, a student with a low SAT score should not necessarily be discounted, especially if they are strong in other areas, such as a good GPA and glowing letters of recommendation. That person may have had a bad test day, get nervous during standardized tests, or excel in other areas not tested by the SAT. SAT scores cannot accuratelydetermine how smart every person who takes the exam is, so when reviewing applications, all of a student’s materials should be examined carefully in order to make the most accurate assessment. Personal statements and letters of recommendation can often provide more in-depthinformation on an applicant’s strengths and personality. As an Indicator of Broad Areas of Strength and Weakness As mentioned above, you can'tuse SAT scores to determine if someone is knowledgeable in a very specific subject area, such as Victorian literature or human biology.However, it is sometimes possible to make inferences as towhat broad subject areas the test-taker is stronger and weaker in. Beginning in March 2016, a student's total SAT score will be the sum of the scores of two sections: Math and Evidence-Based Reading Writing.There is also an optional essay.If a person scored much higher in one section than another, it may be possible to determine which areas they are most skilled and comfortable in.For example, someone with a perfect score of 800 for the Math section, but a 600 in Evidence-Based Reading and Writing may be stronger in math and science.This is certainly not always true, but it can help support an inference if there is otherrelatedevidence, such as a transcript showing lots of math and science classes and a personal statement describing a passion for chemistry. This can be important information for employers looking to hire people with a certain skill set. For example, an engineering company would likely want their employees to have strong math skills but not care as much about writing skills.Colleges can use this information in a similar way. If a student is applying for a school’s journalism program, admissions officers may be more interested in their reading and writing scores than their math score. SAT scores can indicate a person's strengths. To Help Make Efficient Admissions Decisions Sometimes, particularly if a college, employer, or scholarship committee receives a high number of applicants, they need a way to quickly make acceptance or rejection decisions.SAT scores provide a clear and efficient way to judge an applicant’s academic ability, and as the number of colleges students apply to increases, schools have begun to rely more on standardized testsas an admission factor. Almost every school publishes the range of SAT scores forthe students in its most recent entering class. Half of the class scored within this 25th-75th percentile range.Comparing a student’s SAT scores to the school’s score range can help admissions officers easily identify students far below or above that range and make those admissions decisions easier. For example, if a school’s 25th-75th percentile range is 1300 to 1450, a student who scored a 1160 on the SAT will likely not be offered admission, while a student with a 1550 appears to have an excellent chance of being accepted.However, how a student does in relation to a school’s SAT score range should not be the only criteria for admission. A student with a lower-than-average SAT score may have excellent letters of recommendation and extracurriculars, while a student with a great SAT score may not have much else to recommend her.SAT scores can help make an initial decision easier, but the final admission decision should take other factors into account. Can SAT Scores Predict Future Success? The main reason that most people use SAT scores is because they are attempting to select people they feel will be successful at their school or company and beyond.The line of thinking is that people who score well on the SAT are intelligent or know how to prepare for something well, and they will continue to use those skills in the future.Is this true? The short answer is, â€Å"sometimes.† A high school student who scores well on the SAT will usually have at least a certain degree of intelligence and motivation, but that does not always mean they will do well in college. The student could have spent a lot of time studying for the SAT but then felt like he could coast once he got to college, he could find the heavy workload challenging, he may struggle to adapt to new surroundings, he may not work well in groups, or one of many more potential scenarios. Researchers who have studied this relationship have found that SAT scores only account for 10-20 percent of the variation in their college GPAs freshman year;however, this study did not take into account that schools admit students with a relatively narrow range of SAT scores, which may make the relationship appear weaker than it is.Anotherstudy found that high school GPA is a better indicator of whether a student will succeed in college than SAT score.Thismakes sense because a GPA takes into account the grades from your entire four years in high school, as opposed to the scores of a single test. The relationship between SAT scores and career success is even weaker.There is a correlation between people with higher SAT scores and people who end up working in more competitive fields and have more advanced degrees, but SAT score alone doesn’t always predict success.There are numerous factors required to be successful in most careers that the SAT can’t test for, such as interpersonal skills and work ethic, not to mention the specific skills needed to do certain jobs well. Bottom Line SAT scores should never be used as the sole indicator of someone’s intelligence or probability of success; they don’t measure a wide enough variety of skills or types of intelligence, and they can be influenced by too many outside factors. However, studies have shown a strong correlation between SAT score and IQ, and a person who does well on the SAT is usuallyeither intelligent, hard-working, or a combination of the two, which can make them more successful students and employees. In the end, SAT scores should be used as one part of an application that, along with other materials such as GPA, letters of recommendation, personal statements, and extracurriculars can help determine personal strengths and identify which people have a higher probability of success. What's Next? Want more information about the SAT? We have a complete explanation of the test and the impact it has on schools and students. Wondering what SAT scores measure?Read our guide to learn the relationship between SAT scores, IQ, and income. Looking for more information on SAT scores?Our guide explains how the SAT is scored and what those scores mean. Disappointed with your scores? Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points?We've written a guide about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Sales Force Compensation Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Sales Force Compensation - Research Paper Example ch is to accelerate desired behaviors in the entire workforce along with the reinforcement of the overall business strategy that will boost the firm’s performance (Mia & Evans, 2007). Unilever ensures that its total rewards program is supportive to achieve the desired targets of the company and the Human Resource (HR) professionals of the company have ensured that it possesses six features that are vital for the effectiveness of this program (WorldatWork, 2007). The main features of the total rewards approach are as follows: 1. Compensation – It is the most important part of the entire program as it is the basic pay structure that comprises of both fixed and variable pays along with the long-term and short-term incentives. The fixed amount is the base salary which remains constant for every salesperson and the variable pay is dependent on the method used i.e. commission, pay-for-performance, piece-rate pay, time-rate pay and others. The other incentives comprise of bonuses, profit-sharing, ownership share and etc. 3. Benefits – These are the factors that the employees are looking for in their jobs in addition to the monetary payment that they receive such as medical benefits, life insurance benefits, social security, unemployment and etc. These other benefits are valued highly by the employees and at times employees may not opt for jobs that do not provide such benefits. 4. Rewards and Recognition – When employees achieve something highly desirable or challenging, they need to be shown the appreciation either by giving them rewards in the form of bonuses, profit sharing, share ownership or announcing the success within the organization to declare the person’s valuable contribution in the company. 5. Work-life balance – The employees have to be provided support in maintaining adequate balance between the work, personal life and community responsibilities. They can be provided with financial support, paid and unpaid vacations, caring for dependents